My Expat Dental Adventure to Dr. Choi's Office: A Great English Speaking Dentist in Seoul

It can be difficult to "Get over your anxiety, and schlep yourself off to the dentist!" A task which I have personally posited as "The most difficult thing about being an adult". No one wants to go to the dentist, except those lucky masochists. Back in the day mom was nice enough to drag you there. Now you're all grown up and you have to summon the courage to pick up the phone and make the appointment yourself.

If you are an expat and need to go to the dentist while you are here in Seoul ...add to the normal dental appointment anxiety not being able to communicate to your dentist! When I think of not being able to communicate with my dentist with 100% certainty, my O.C.D panties (a tiny rainbow tie-dye thong for those who like a little visual assistance) start bunching up.

How will I know what my dentist is telling me? How will my dentist know what I are saying? How will I maintain complete delusional control so that my "happily ever after at the dentist story" works out perfectly?

The incentive of overcoming your fears (both rational and irrational) and going to the dentist in Seoul, South Korea of course "must be the money" (and clean teeth). The dental bill in South Korea will be substantially cheaper than paying for the same dental or periodontal procedures in the United States and Canada. This "fabulous savings" combined with the knowledge that having bad teeth ups the degree of difficulty when it comes to scoring at the club...and you are off to the Korean dentist my friend.

Here in Seoul, South Korea many dentists are trained at dental colleges in the United States and therefore you will likely have a western style dental experience you are somewhat familiar with. When it comes to dentists in South Korea some dentists speak better English than others and some dentists are simply more skilled than others. Some dentist offices are much cleaner than others (not a fan of stray hairs in the spit sink). And just like a bad mechanic, some dentists prescribe unnecessary treatment procedures while other honest dentists do not.

I have come across a group of English speaking dentists here in Seoul, in the Itaewon area, who have been trained in the United States, have a squeaky clean sanitary office and do not prescribe needless expensive treatments. I was in their office for a check-up this morning and I highly recommend Dr. Choi and Associates as a great English speaking dental group for expats.

Upon first arriving to the dental office I filled out some standard dental forms in their comfortable waiting room. Then Dr. Choi and Associates took my picture to attach to my file (you can use an alias if you are not paying with insurance), then they took a quick and painless dental x-ray. I was nervous. To be honest sometimes, maybe almost all the time, I cry at the dentist and I was sure to write that on the bottom of the dental form where it says "Any other information we should know about you?" I went back into the spotlessly clean examination room and Dr. Choi examined my teeth; then two dental hygienists double teamed me on the teeth cleaning; removing all particles of tartar with fastidious Korean proficiency. Aside from the Parkinson's like shaking and gentle sobbing, everything went smoothly. Dr. Choi said I had no cavities!

*Although my dental visit went well, you will need to make your own decision and the outcome of your visit may be different. Part of your decision making process may include doing a brief search on google.com.

Dr. Choi and Associates (Telephone: 796 2224; Email: http://www.dentasso.com), Volvo Bldg. 2nd Floor, 726-173 Hannam-dong , Yongsan-gu, in Seoul is conveniently located in the Volvo Building next to Hannam Supermarket. Just down the street from the Seoul Harley Davidson store and a Korean Vegetables Restaurant. You can take the subway Brown line #6 to the Hanganjin station. The Volvo building is one of the few tall buildings in that area and is easily visible by looking for the words VOLVO affixed to the building in blue in the telltale VOLVO font. To get there by taxi I called Dr. Choi and Associates and handed the cell phone to my taxi driver who worked out the directions with the receptionist.